Up bright and early to start our first day ashore. Today, we are in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. This is our first Eastern Caribbean cruise since Disney added Tortola to the itinerary so we were looking forward to the new port. Emily continued her morning routine of rope dropping the gym.

Isabelle and I rope dropped Cabanas which opened at 6:45 AM and Emily joined us when she finished at the gym. There continues to be an inability to communicate with one another via the DCL Navigator App chat. I’m guess this is partially due to having background services turned off on my iPhone to limit data usage when signed into my data plan. However, Emily sent me a message before 6:00 AM and I still do not have it as I am writing this sentence at 4:22 PM. I take that back – at 4:23 after quitting the app and toggling in and out of my chat session, the messages arrived. Regardless, the chat feature is not something we can recommend for important conversations. Stick to fact to face or the Wave phones.

Ok, sorry for getting sidetracked. We finished our breakfast and returned to the stateroom to pick up our bags for the day. Last night, we tried to get as much ready as possible so we could just grab our bags and go. The plan worked flawlessly up until the point I decided to take my camera bag.

Since Emily booked this cruise close sailing, there wasn’t much time to research and book our own excursion as we usually prefer to do. Em paged through a few of the Caribbean Island books we have and what kept coming up for Tortola was 1) snorkeling at the caves, 2) going to the Baths at Virgin Gorda, and 3) Pusser’s rum. Emily chose a Disney excursion begrudgingly….She booked the Treasure Island Swim & Snorkel.

Our port adventure was scheduled to meet in the Tube at 8AM and once we were checked in, our group was led off the ship to meet with our catamaran captain on the pier.

Once our group arrived on the pier, we walked about 500 yards (do not quote me on this – basically a short walk) to an awaiting double decker catamaran. I’m in not going to go into full details on the port adventure as it deserves a dedicated write up, plus I’d like to include video so that will need to wait until we get home. The catamaran left Tortola for about a 25 minute ride crossing the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Norman Island so we could snorkel around the caves.

Once our time at the caves was over, we boarded the catamaran and headed to Pirates Bight for some beach time. There was a nice pier which allowed us to dock and take an extremely short walk to the beach. There were two sides to the beach. Once side was a The Club restaurant where the beach chairs cost $30 each, included a towel, a token for the restroom and the freshwater shower. On the other side of the pier there were “free” chairs. Although free, they were meant for customers of the Pirates Bight Restaurant and Bar on the beach. However, I did not see anyone shooed away for sitting in a lounge chair and not ordering a drink or food. There was even free wifi available on the beach.

The water at this beach was nice and calm, but was a bit cooler than the spot we were snorkeling earlier. At anytime during the day we could come and go from the catamaran. This was nice as it meant we did not need to schlep our stuff to the beach. When our beach time ended we returned to the catamaran and set a course back to Tortola. We were served complimentary rum punch or just fruit punch.

We returned to the same spot on the pier making it easy for anyone to return to the ship or head into Tortola. It is very important to note that bathing suites are for the beach and are not considered appropriate dress for walking around town. We planned ahead to have appropriate clothing so we could head over to Pusser’s Company Store and Pub for lunch.

Pusser’s was about a 5-10 minute walk from the Tortola Pier Park and you can still see the cruise ship from outside the restaurant.

The restaurant had a decent menu, but Emily and I were planning ahead for dinner so we opted to share an order of fish & chips and a side of homemade potato chips, which from the menu sounded great.

However, in reality, the chips were great, the toppings were much to be desired. It was drizzled with blue cheese dressing and had some diced tomatoes sprinkled on for some color. We did indulge in a Painkiller which is offered with two to four shots of rum.

After our lunch walked back to Tortola Pier Park and back to the ship. I think Tortola deserves it own separate write up at a later date. I will say the area has potential once all of pier area is developed. Right now it is just getting started.

We still had a few hours before our dinner reservations. I stayed on the pier to take some photos while Emily and Isabelle returned to the ship. Security did ask them where I was, I’m guessing they haven’t received the memo from shoreside telling them to find a way to strand me in a port. It is reassuring to know security is looking out for me.

I made my way back to an empty stateroom which based on the time meant Isabelle wanted to go swimming. I found them around the pool where we all hung out for a little bit before heading back to the room to clean up for the evening.

Isabelle had room service for dinner then headed to the Oceaneer Lab just as we were leaving for our dinner at Remy.

Upon arrival, we learned the French portion of the menu was just recently changed which added to our anticipation for tonight’s dinner.

With my shellfish allergy and Emily’s preference to not eat pork or red meat we just asked our server to surprise us with each course working with those criteria. This has worked really well in the past. It also adds a bit of mystery to the dinner, as we are left guessing what will be served next with the silverware providing clues. We had an excellent dinner. Tonight, was another one of those nights that remind us why we love the Remy experience and keep coming back for more.

Our server really did a good job of pacing the dinner to enable us to get out in time for the start of the evening show… “What?!? A show, you say? You have been to one yet…” Well, tonight was the 3D showing of Finding Dory in the Walt Disney Theatre which we all wanted to see. We found Isabelle and our seats just as the movie was beginning. I thought Finding Dory was a really fun sequel with enough refresher information to re-introduce the characters and to catch moviegoers up on the events of Finding Nemo. Oh, the short attached to the film is simply adorable.

Tomorrow is another early morning for us so it was back to the room and to go to bed. I’ll admit, this trip log entry was a bit abbreviated for such an active day. The truth is that is that the port adventure, Tortola and our Remy dinner all deserve individual write ups.

yeah didn’t love Tortola we went to a beach that was the closest to the pier. They put us in a car like cattle & charged us $8 each, kids half price. The beach was nice but I wouldn’t touch the food! The island really isn’t ready for cruise ships yet. I preferred St Martin much more

>DCL’s website is free to browse once connected to the DCL-Guest wifi hotspot without logging in…

Very useful information. Though I’ve loved the faster internet I missed the ability to check out cruise fares for ‘free’ under the old system. It is good to know that there is still a way to do so (albeit very slowly…)

Scott, you mention excursions.. coming up will be our 8th cruise but we normally don’t get off the ship in Nassau and take advantage of the Aqua Duck, but as of late, everyone seems to be doing that. Anyway – kids really want to do the Atlantis aquaventure for the day – any recommendations on booking this safely (not through Disney). I did see one site for 3 of us at $390 (about $200 cheaper then Disney) and I understand only about $4 for taxi? Any input would be great. Thanks!

Scott, curious about what you do with your regular rotational dining. Many of your trips, including this one, seem to have your daughter eating separately in the stateroom or somewhere else while you and your wife have special reservations. That means the servers for your regular rotational dining frequently have an empty table? Any hard feelings with the servers that you don’t show up for them? Do they feel like their end of cruise tip is less because you haven’t been with them as much? Or maybe then enjoy the fact that they get more time with other guests and the tips are locked in regardless?

We typically inform our servers if were are going to be skipping dinner for Palo, Remy or just plain skipping. We never tip any less, in fact, we always add more. The thing to keep in mind is that your serving team also rotates to serving breakfast and lunch in Cabanas or Lumiere’s, Tritons, Royal Court and Royal Palace. Plus, they will work the BBQs at Castaway Cay if it is included on your itinerary. We look at tipping for all they do to serve us or other guest during the voyage even if we do not see them in another venue.

Can you please tell me how you entered the water and more importantly how you got back on the catamaran from the water. I have a bad leg so climbing up a ladder is tough but some of the catamarans have it that the center of the boat drops down and you jusr sit down and swim away. Could you please let me know? Thanks much

Belinda,
For the snorkeling portion a ladder, more like a staircase was lowered into the water. I should note that it did take a bit of effort to get up on the first stair as it did not go that far below the surface. Here is a picture of the Rebel Yell’s stairs lowered.

Hey, We sail out in a week 9/24 on the fantasy. I currently have TT64 Island Drive/Fusion Beach @ 9:15am booked as an excursion for Tortola. (cane garden bay beach) lasting it says 3-3.5 hr. An all aboard time of 5:45pm – would u think we would have time walk around and see shops/restaurants like you did?

Absolutely, the port adventure should return you to the dock before 2pm. The Tortola Pier Park is at the dock. If you decided to go get lunch like we did it is about a 10-15 minute walk each way depending on how fast or slow your group walks.

Did you ever do your write up on Tortola or Remy? Would love to read those….

We did Tortola in May and loved it. My family booked a private charter through Patouche. They took us on a power cat to snorkel and have lunch at Cooper Island then to the Baths after the crowds died down. We took our kids (5 and 3) and had an awesome time. One of the best days of vacation we ever had.